Mike Savage co-chairs Syrian refugee committee for cities

Halifax's mayor will co-chair a national committee tasked with creating a united municipal response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Mike Savage says the Federation of Canadian Municipalities initiative wants to keep cities an active partner as Canada takes in refugees. The federal government handles immigration, but Savage says it naturally falls to municipalities to provide the practical support.

"People live in cities, people live in communities, and this is where the rubber hits the road," he said. "If people are going to come here from other countries — as we hope they do — then they're going to end up at the local level in need of some assistance from municipal units."

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The committee met for the first time on Thursday to set its terms of reference. Savage said they have three main goals:

• To identify and share information on municipal areas such as public services, staffing, financial resources and local expertise. 
• To coordinate the overall municipal response on settlement and provide input.
• To share best practices among the municipalities. 

Savage said the committee will create a catalogue of what each city is doing to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis.

"There have been millions of refugees, people who have been left homeless, fleeing persecution and poverty from many parts of the world. But it was that searing picture of the boy on the beach that, for Canadians brought the [Syrian] issue home as a crisis," he said.

In September, Savage brought a motion to Halifax municipal council vowing to work with the federal and provincial governments on any initiative to accept Syrian refugees. 

"For us, it might mean transit, it means where are people going to live? Where are the kids going to go to school? Some of those are direct municipal responsibilities and some of them touch on municipal areas of responsibility," he said.

"And I think all the cities, all the communities across the country and certainly across Nova Scotia, from very small communities to larger cities, have said we want to be a part of that."

Syria's civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced half of its population.